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Monday

From The Vault: 9/11 WTC Survivor John McLoughlin

As a Port Authority Police Officer, John McLoughlin led a rescue team to find survivors of the WTC attacks on 9/11. He and team-mate William Jimeno became trapped and looked doomed to die. Their story became the subject of Oliver Stone's World Trade Center. Here McLoughlin recounts what happened.

What was your
reaction the first time you watched World Trade Center?

"My general
reaction was that it was very well done and it was very emotional.
Because it was so well done, it was difficult to see."

What were your
initial thoughts when the idea was proposed to you about this film
being made?

"Well, it was a
process that came up before they actually said they were going to be
doing a movie. During that process, Will [Jimeno] and I weren't
looking to have our story told. It was important for us to tell the
story of the men from our team we lost that day - we were the last
ones to see them alive - and the heroics of the rescue workers. That
was the important part and what we wanted to let the world know
happened. So with that in mind we were very much in support of it to
get their stories out."

Some people have
said that it is too soon for films like this and United 93. It
never struck you as being too early?

"No, my
observation since it's come out in the United States is that those
who maybe said it was too early and have changed their minds about
it. We read a lot about that in the press and once they saw it they
realised it's not a 9/11 terrorist story; this is a 9/11 story about
humanity. Part of what is important to us is that everybody has their
own level in dealing with tragedy. Some people will never be able to
watch movies about 9/11. I mean I personally witnessed some of that
trauma of people that I know. But some people a year later would have
been okay to see it. The important thing is that this is part of us
not forgetting, that we have to remember the tragedy of that day.

"It is also a
historical event and if you want to get the information on a
historical event, you'd better get it while the people are still
alive and the memories are fresh and the details are still there.
It's a shame we had all these soldiers from World War 2 that now are
in their 60s, 70s and 80s, and all of a sudden somebody said, ‘Maybe
we should find out what they went through.' We should have found out
what they went through when they were in their 20s, because suddenly
these walking pieces of history are disappearing, and people are
realising that. I think that's part of it too. It was an historical
event, we were all part of it, and while the story is still fresh in
our minds, tell it."

The film is also a
love story, between you and your wife, Donna, and between WIll Jimeno
and his wife, Allison. How did you react when they said they wanted
to do something so personal? What was your reaction when you saw your
relationship on screen?

"I think the
emotion of the trauma of 9/11 is more difficult to deal with than
telling the story of my family and my wife. The story about my
family, my wife, is a happy story. It's a good story to tell. So the
more difficult part was telling the details of what happened to us
and our friends on 9/11. It was nice that people understand how
families come together. I hope people get out of the movie how
important it is to appreciate your kids, appreciate your loved ones.
Life gets too involved and you start taking too many things for
granted that maybe we shouldn't in our normal everyday life. People
take away from the movie that they should be thankful for what
they've got and hang onto it. So that's very good."

What did you draw on
to survive?

"It was thinking
about my family. I had to get out for my family. I had to try and
survive for them."

What was your first
thought when you realised what was going on?

"When the planes
had hit the towers? At first I thought this was just a very tragic
accident. Until I got down on the scene and realised how significant
it was. Then I realised this was much more serious. But I didn't
think we were facing the end of the world or anything. I thought we
were facing a serious condition and a lot of people were in need up
in those towers."

Was it a tough
moment when you asked for volunteers to go into the towers with you,
or was it just part of the job?

"I took it as part
of the job. I knew what we had to do. I worked Emergency Services,
which is a specialised unit within a police department to deal with
these kinds of events, and I worked at the World Trade Centre for 12
years setting up equipment and training and preparing for a major
event. Nothing to that significance, though. So as a supervisor it
basically was my job. I had to get people in. I didn't order people
in because I knew the significance of it. I asked for people that
were comfortable with the equipment we were going to need to get up
into those towers, and those men stepped forward that were
comfortable with it. Then there was no hesitation. I didn't feel bad
or I was doing something unusual asking people to come with me up
into the tower."

When you were
trapped, did you experience any kind of guilt with regards to the
people you had led into the building?

"At that time,
that day, no, I had no guilt feelings. I knew these officers, I
worked with them, I was comfortable and confident that these were the
type of men that with direction were going to do the job right. So I
was comfortable with the men I was going in with and that we would be
able to handle whatever we came across. It was just circumstances
turned out beyond any of our control and tragic things ended up
happening."

You helped put
emergency plans in place after the attack on the World Trade Centre
in 1993. Could any preparations for something like this have been put
in place, because we have heard subsequently that the government was
being warned by the CIA security services that terrorists were
planning to hijack planes, and there have been suggestions that they
may have had concerns that thy might be used as weapons?

"It wasn't handed
down to my level, to street level, that that was a possibility. We
had trained and set up contingencies, different types of training
scenarios for problems, and that wasn't one of our training
scenarios. Let's put it this way: we could have dealt with an
accidental accident in a better manner than in the manner it was
done, which was a terrorist event with such a large airliner. That
was beyond our training and there was nothing in our training
scenarios that we had set up."

Were you being kept
in the dark to some extent and are you angry?

"[Sighs] Can you
be angry over it? No. Sometimes people think this is such a simple
process that they assimilate this information, it's black and white,
cut and dried, this was going to happen, let's put everybody in fear
of going into high-rises and tell them planes may crash into your
buildings any day now. I've been in a position on a lower level, I
would never want to be second guessed - you know, what we call Monday
morning quarterback - on what happened the day before, the day after.
I am comfortable that people did what they felt . . . Could I live
with people actually knowing what was going to happen and consciously
made the decision not to supply it? I don't think that occurred.
You'd have to be some kind of horrific human being to consciously
allow something like that to happen. I don't think that happened."

How did you feel
about being played by Nicolas Cage?

"I was honoured
that Nicolas wanted to take this role on. He truly went into it with
a very dedicated attitude to get this as close as he could."

Can you tell us
about how you worked together with the actors, Nicolas and Maria
Bello, who plays your wife, Donna?

"Well they
both came to our home and we sat and talked. Nicolas came to the
house, we went out, we had hours of discussions. We went to lunch
together, just a couple of guys going out talking. We went out to a
couple of places, we were on the set, and I think he understood. He
went on patrol with one of our sergeants; all the main characters
that play police officers went to the bus terminal [in midtown
Manhattan], went on patrols, were assigned to a police officer and
went out on patrol with them. Nicolas went out on patrol with one of
our sergeants so they could see what it's like to be a street police
officer in New York City as opposed to a Hollywood police officer.
One of the aspects of the movie that I liked was you saw real cops.
You didn't see the Hollywood cop. You saw fear. You saw how they
handle themselves in public. They got the feel of the mannerisms of
police officers because they went out with them, and they portrayed
how a normal police officer goes out in a day in New York City with
the Port Authority Police."

How involved were
you? Were you on set during the shoot?

"No. We went into
the details extensively prior to even the first piece of film being
shot. All the details were already down and discussed over and over
and over again. Then as they progressed with the film, we were on the
set. I was only on the set once in New York. I was out there 10 days
in California when they were doing the rescue scenes, and in between
that if they had any questions they would call me up at home and
asked me what was I wearing, what was I doing, how did I feel, and
I'd fill them in. But I wasn't on the set extensively."

How much did you
help them with the physical details of the locations?

"The debris-field
set, I couldn't even help them with. I never saw the debris field. I
was in the inside. There were two separate sets. The one where you
see Nicolas and Michael [Pena, playing Will Jimeno] where they were
buried, that was inside and they had this set inside for the hole.
Then there was an outside set where there was a debris field. So the
only thing I could help them with was the hole. They had to talk to
all the Port Authority Police officers, New York City Police
officers, and New York firemen to help them on the set with what they
saw. Mainly the rescue workers on the set came out with us so they
helped them out with what they saw and what they did on the debris
field. And all those officers and firemen, it was very emotional for
them. That's how realistic the set was when they saw that debris
field."

Do you and your
family talk about 9/11 much today?

"At this point we
don't have a lot of discussions about 9/11, especially with family.
We've talked about it. Everybody knows and everybody in the family
knows what's going on. We don't want that to be a constant part of
our life so we go on with life. Sometimes strangers are curious and
ask questions. Our friends know most of the details and they don't
bring it up."

Often people who
have suffered a trauma cannot speak about it for some time. Did you
go through a period like that?

"No, I don't think
there was any period of time I couldn't talk about it. But there was
definitely a period of when I couldn't deal with you as calmly as
now. It was extremely emotional to deal with, whereas certain aspects
of it now it's a lot easier for me to deal with than years ago. But
aspects of it are still very emotional and raw and probably always
will be."

Tell me about the
moment you were pulled out.

"When I came out
on the stretcher I didn't know the towers were down. I thought it was
car bombs that went off. When I got trapped I was in my own little
world. So not only didn't I know the towers had come down, I had no
idea of the magnitude of the event at that time. I only found that
out months later. It obviously upset me because it was very personal
to me. This wasn't an event where nearly 3000 people died but it had
over 30 of my personal friends die. So this wasn't an event or
tragedy that I was separated from, plus I lost three men that I had
personally brought into that building, so it was very personal."

"Your piece is one of the most comprehensive, eloquent, and powerful discussions of the film I have read." Joshua Oppenheimer, director of The Act of Killing

"Stephen, this is a fabulous piece; you did a superlative job in communicating the film and its essence." Erik Greenberg Anjou, director of Deli Man

"I have to thank you. It's a very good [Mein Kampf] article, which you have written; it reflects very sharply and especially fairly the various positions." Dr. Christian Hartmann, Institute of Contemporary History Munich